I've really run this fort into the ground. Half the military is dead or insane from the horrors of hell, six or so forsaken beasts are locked away in the caverns, the road into Deathgate has been painted with troll blood, we've slaughtered about 400 innocent animals via liberal application of a boot to the ass, a deer with its liver hanging out of its chest after two siege bolts to the face is still scaring the piss out of people using the old doom-bridge, and we have about a dozen ghosts routinely harassing our dwarves since I can't find or reach their corpses. As I speak, lava is pouring down the side of the mountain in the hopes it burns some of those damned goblins sieging us to death or at least drives them towards the troll-blood bridge. On the flip side, Armok's temple is almost complete and we've stolen enough goods from the humans to piss them off for a good decade.

Quote from: Narqulie

Holy clusterf**k Batman!

Quote from: noodle0117

I might need a bit more time getting the update up, since my computer literally crashed from the sheer amounts of gore, death, and dwarven engineering awesome.

Quote from: Blade Master Model 42

This is an artifact fortress. All craftdwarfship is of the maddest quality. It is adorned with rings of text. It menaces with spikes of animals. It is decorated with adamantine awesome. On the fortress is an image of Overseers in demon blood. The Overseers are cackling insanely. On the Fortress is an image of animals and CPU. The animals are milling about. The CPU is in the fetal position. On the fortress is an image of the BATTERY and physics. The Battery is producing power from nothing. The physics is weeping. On the Fortress is an image of dwarves and demons. The dwarves are striking menacing poses. The demons are decomposing. On the fortress is an image of dead cats in cat bone. The cats are self-referential.

Quote from: scaliper

Dear god...this place looks like it's been designed by multiple particularly sadistic madmen.

Quote from: Mitchewawa

I mined out a moderate sized area above the stairway to hell in order to have enough rocks to fuel my insane architectural boner.

Quote from: Blade Master Model 42

I love how the preface of nearly every starting post after the first few turns are always something along the lines of, "This place makes no sense at all."

Quote from: kefkakrazy

I had an update ready, but I wound up... well, I accidentally our entire military,

Introduction:

Welcome to Deathgate, the Doom Fortress. It is here that we, the Death-Hammers' of Wrath, in the name of The Basement of Murder, have created a glorious fortress in the name of Fistmachines, the mountainhome. Guided by our ancestors, we created this settlement in the spring of 751. In the years that have followed, we have been lead by numerous overseers; some of them paragons, others were tyrants. With sweat and blood, sinew and muscle, stone and clay, we have created a fortress in this hellish world. Despite the danger and insanity, Deathgate remains the safest fortress for Dwarvenkind. Regardless of the hardships and struggles, we have continued to strive towards our sacred duty. And that task given to us by our gods and our ancestors was to pierce into the bowels of the Earth, enter the realm of the demons, subjugate their wretched race, and conquer hell.

In this, we shall not fail.

Information:Dwarf Fortress v. 31.25Unmodded

Rules:1. Each player has one in-game year to run the fortress.2. There is no time limit on how long you have, but please keep the time frame reasonable. If you take excessive amounts of time, you may be skipped.3. Once the previous players turn ends, you have 48 hours to begin your turn. 4. Try not to kill the fortress.

Succession List: Attention. New Overseer registrations are now closed. We are, however, taking registrations for overseers on Deathgate II.

The following is an entry from Ducim "AnimaRytak" Daklogem, founder of Deathgate.

751, Age of Fairy Tails

"We have learned the truth. All of us have. Since the creation of this world by the Ancient ones, it has served as a prison for creatures incomprehensible to us. Deep beneath our feet, surrounded by slade and the most precious of metals, they continue to claw at their prison. Creatures from the primordial era that even Armok himself could not vanquish. It is our destiny to be their jailers. It is our destiny to beat them into submission!"

That's what the stark raving mad dwarf told me as I left Fistmachines, the mountainhome (Armok knows why they named it that...). The poor hooplehead went insane a few years back after he failed to make some donkey bone ring. Apparently he couldn't find one bit of cat leather in the entire mountainhome. Afterwards the elf-lover shaved his beard, yes he shaved his god damn beard, and started running around the halls naked. Needless to say, we don't let him in the dining room anymore.

Well, back on topic.

The year is 751 and, for the glory of our civilization, the Basement of Murder (seriously, were all our ancestors strung out on kobold bulbs?), we of the Death-Hammers of Wrath have been chartered to found a new outpost to the north, in the region called the Windy Plane.

Attached is a map of the Violent Continents. An X points out the location of the new fort.

According to the charter we've been given, the area has iron, flux stone, and aquifer, and a armok-damned volcano. Yeah, a volcano. The aquifer is bad enough, but a volcano? I pray that Armok is merciful...

Attached is an inventory list taken after arrival.

In addition to these stocks, we've departed with 5 cats, 5 dogs, and 5 turkeys. Dwarf wise, we have two miners who double as masons, a all purpose craftsman, and a metalworker. As for myself? I'm a jack of all trades, I'm the broker, the bookkeeper, and the manager.

Truthfully, I really don't feel good about this trip. I've lived in Fistmachines my entire life. Given the choice, I'd much rather sit on my ass guzzling strawberry wine and eating bat rays. But with some 60% unemployment and a lack of mineral wealth in the mountainhome, I have little choice. Still, I guess I can make the best of this. This place shouldn't be too bad. I bet there's gonna be some sweet tail at...

My urge to play is a bit high, so I've started putting down the essentials. There's still 5 dorfs available for whoever wants them. Plus whoever wants turn two and three and so on.---1st Granite, 751

Well, it's too late to leave now, the boys back home would probably have us hammered to death if we came back. So Deathgate is now our home. Despite my intense dislike for the outposts name, things don't seem too awful. The spring thaw is upon us, and although the pools are still frozen, the snow has started to melt, making our job much easier. I've taken a survey of the place and made some sketches of the area. Their a bit rough, I think the idea is present.

Click:

The wild life is non existent at the moment, but I saw two deer humping each other down the mountain a ways. Compared to the stories of skeletal mountain goats and blood-thirsty elephants, no wild life is almost a blessing.

I order all of our animals caged, except for the two yak who are set out in an open area to graze. I instruct the dwarves to deconstruct the wagon, designate a group of trees to be cut, order carpenters workshop to be built, and the entrance to our fortress to be dug out. One of our two stoneworkers, who insists on being called "Turdbeard", gets right to work. I don't ask why he insists on being called that. Honestly, I don't want to know.

I'm not sure where the aquifer is at, but I figure digging into the obsidian is a safe-bet. For now, the main junction will serve as our dormitories, our dining room, meeting hall, stockpile, and my office. At least until we can get a farm up and working. I don't plan on starving to death before we get some nice dwarf tail to emigrate here.

10th Slate, 751

We've gotten all of our supplies underground, essential workshops have been constructed, and some dining area has been put down. With everything safe and secure, I set about to getting our farms up. I've ordered our metal worker to do all of our mechanic work. In the mean time, I've taken to updating our stockpile records. I probably should get around to learning the names of the rest of the group. But alas, I can't resist the urge to count everything. I'll figure out everyone's name later on, once we get a guaranteed food source.

Alright. We have two miner/mason/engravers. One is taken, the other is open. I'll set the other aside for you. (Assuming another one doesn't pop up during a migration wave later on. Or I can name him now, up to you.)

Also, there's three dwarves left for dorfing. Bomrek Gidthurkilrud, our butcher/planter/cook. Iral Nomalnebel, our carpenter/woodcutter/wood burner/woodcrafter, stonecrafter/bone carver. And Kol Imushzatam, the Furnace operator/weaponsmith/armorsmith/metalsmith/blacksmith/mechanic. I'd like to get them dorfed before I continue, since without skeletal mountain goats punting dorfs into magma, I need dwarf interaction to make things interesting. Plus I don't wanna end my turn without someone guaranteed to have next.

Summer is upon us, and our farm area has been irrigated. Sekra, our brewer, and our cook are tilling the fields while Turdburger and Irony dug out a food storage stockpile across from the farm. Once thats done, I'll get around to having some rooms and a dining hall dug out. I've also ordered a large gate constructed a little bit back from our entrance. Even though the wildlife here is pretty tame, I'd like to be safe.

24th, Malachite, 751

Farms are up and fresh crops are growing as I write this. Enough rooms have been dug out for 10 dwarves, which is good because we just got our first match of migrants. Four came in this wave. The only notable immigrant is a master butcher.

4th, Galena, 751The first stock of our own brew was made yesterday. To celebrate the occasion, we partied throughout the night. I must've drank too much since this morning I... I uh...

...Woke up next to the carpenter. I'm not proud of it, but she keeps waving at me in the halls. I've been trying to avoid her, but since my office is in the hall still, I'm fairly trapped.

In less disturbing news, I've ordered a trade depot constructed. Since the carpenter, who is also our stonecrafter, will harass me constantly, I've decided to keep her busy and make useless trinkets to trade this autumn.

1st, Limestone, 751

Summer is over, and I must say it was quite uneventful. The quick expansion has bogged down our few dwarves and a good portion of the mining work goes unfinished. My goal is to get the bare essentials up and running before years end. The hoopleheads back at the Fistmachines will probably send my replacement once spring breaks. Goodness knows none of their pampered asses could get an outpost up and running to save their beards. But, none the less, I have to keep working else they'll send a hammerer to, well, hammer me.

4th, Sandstone, 751

More migrants! This is good, because there's still a bunch of hauling work to be done. Sorry Atir, you may be an accomplished siege engineer back in Fistmachines, but now your hauling rocks!

27th, Sandstone, 751

Finally dug out the last of the stockpiles for now. Still haven't given myself an office.

15th, Timber, 751Finally got an office. Bout armokdamn'd time!

On another note, nothing interesting has happened. I expect the trade caravan any day now though...Speak of the devil! The merchant caravan from Fistmachines has arrived. I trade a boatload of rock crafts for some food, booze, some leather, a box of cloth, and a steel bar.

After a few hours, the liason finally comes to see me. The meeting starts off normal enough.

I request mostly food and drink, along with some wood. He gives me a list of exports for us to focus on.

Just before he leaves, he pushes an envelope into my hands and leaves without another word. It's addressed to me and it comes straight from the top echelon of the Mountainhome. I don't think much of it. But as I pull out the paper and begin to read it, my blood runs cold.

Greetings Overseer. Assuming this message has reached you and you are alive, then the settlement of the Windy Plane has been successful. As such, you are hereby ordered to take up a task at the behest of the mountainhome, for the glory of all dwarvenkind.

By decree of the tribunal of The Basement of Murder, you are hereby ordered to recruit, train, and outfit an elite standing army. Following this, you and your men are to dig deep into the heart of the earth, underneath the great magma sea, and breach the domain of the demons. You must conquer an area beneath Deathgate and construct a fortress for our people to launch further incursions against the unholy hell spawn.

Failure to do so will result in the fall of all dwarvenkind. Failure is not an option.

Armok bless you.

Signed,The Tribunal

The madman... he was right... My hands trembled as I stuff the letter in my desk. Dig deeper? Are they crazy? I'll do no such thing. There are stocks to be compiled. Yes, stocks.Winter, 751

Must not go to the circus.... Must not let out the clowns...Must not go to the circus.... Must not let out the clowns...Must not go to the circus.... Must not let out the clowns...This continues on for 30 pages.-----

The last pages of the journal contain a map of the fortress with annotations. There are no further entries from AnimaRytak. Other information gathered indicates he became reclusive and focused soley on his work. He was replaced as overseer in Spring of 752.

The levers in the lever room are marked with the Notes menu. But for a quick reference, left is the door by the trade depot, right is the drawbridge out front. I extended it out in case someone feels like putting up an entrance tower later on. The door near the stone stockpile is for forbidding the stone in the dump easily, so if you wanna make one type of item, you dont have to forbid and reclaim.

Lastly, yes, the goal sent to us by the mountain home is the goal for this fortress. "Deathgate" is a literal name.